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Monday, 9 July 2007

Mr Benn's Necronomicon: The Vampire In Nature

Last night following the Heuristic Catalogue post I had an interesting recurring dream.

I was in an independent bookshop on the outskirts of a Northern steel town. I had found a number of Kenneth Grant books including "Beyond The Mauve Zone". I couldn't make up my mind which one to buy, but was particularly taken by the cover of BTMZ which had a gaudy yellow and purple colour scheme. When I got to the counter, I remembered a book about vampires that I had recently seen advertised. In fact it was an offshoot coffee table publication from a David Attenborough type wildlife series concerning vampiric animals. Asking the proprietor about the book, he answered somewhat surprised.

"Off course we have"... Immediately in front me on the counter was a pile of books called "The Vampire In Nature". The book was co-authored, one of the authors being David Ashton. Browsing through the book, I recalled seeing the first episode of the television series which concerned African vampire pigs. There was also some photos of zebras which had been attacked by vampiric animals (hyenas?)

I paid for the book and wanted to browse some more, but the owner told me they were closing early and had been doing so recently, during the "off-season". I left to join my son David who was standing outside, bored that I had been in the shop too long.

Inferences:

I have always tended to consider these dreams which happen in book/record shops to be deficit dreams, so it's interesting to have one immediately AFTER constructing an imaginary catalogue. There is also something quite Mr. Benn about them, the shop keeper has a distinctly guru role about him.

The Vampires in Nature reminds me of a strange documentary film about the Argentinian Vampire Bat. It was a black And white, possibly even a silent film, that I recall seeing on a double bill with Les Yeux Sans Visage - an equally bizarre French horror film, about a face transplant.

Ironically, recently French plastic surgeon's performed the first successful face transplant... another case of Science following horror.

The vampire pigs call to mind Kenneth Grant's extrapolation on Chozzar - a flesh eating pig in Atlantean lore ... allegedly. Apparently the term Rozzer for a policeman comes from Jewish slang... chazer being pig in Hebrew. The vampire pigs might also allude to the disturbing Wild Bores that terrorise the house, in William Hope Hodgson's nightmarish "The House on The Borderland".

The vampiric hyenas may also from Grant's Nightside of Eden and his discussion of the Cult of The Spectral Hyena - associated with the tunnels guarded by Zamradiel and Parfaxitas.Interesting qabalastic stream between David Attenborough, David Ashton and my son David (who's middle name is Andrew).